There are single moms or dads with three kids and bags of groceries, elderly men with oxygen tanks to push across icy lots, people recovering from surgery who arenâ€™t advised to be out of doors in the first placeâ€”and maybe, just maybe, God hears their cries for parking spaces close to the front door of Target, or the P.O., or their urban dwelling. Maybe he even provides those spaces from time to time, caring for sparrows as he does.

But as supplication goes, praying for parking is, for those who pray, a mark of shame. Itâ€™s on par with praying that The Gap has the right size jeans or that your TiVoâ€™s hard drive doesnâ€™t crash during "Grey's Anatomy." Itâ€™s a prayer of tediumâ€”for those too bored to pray for things that matter. Itâ€™s a prayer of luxuryâ€”for that blessed 1% whose wealth can put them in a car and give them cause to drive to the tony shopping district where parking is the only scarcity.

And, of course, a God who will provide a parking spot for the devout but not a cure for cancer is a twisted God indeed.

Comments

There are single moms or dads with three kids and bags of groceries, elderly men with oxygen tanks to push across icy lots, people recovering from surgery who arenâ€™t advised to be out of doors in the first placeâ€”and maybe, just maybe, God hears their cries for parking spaces close to the front door of Target, or the P.O., or their urban dwelling. Maybe he even provides those spaces from time to time, caring for sparrows as he does.\n\nBut as supplication goes, praying for parking is, for those who pray, a mark of shame. Itâ€™s on par with praying that The Gap has the right size jeans or that your TiVoâ€™s hard drive doesnâ€™t crash during \"Grey's Anatomy.\" Itâ€™s a prayer of tediumâ€”for those too bored to pray for things that matter. Itâ€™s a prayer of luxuryâ€”for that blessed 1% whose wealth can put them in a car and give them cause to drive to the tony shopping district where parking is the only scarcity.

\n\nAnd, of course, a God who will provide a parking spot for the devout but not a cure for cancer is a twisted God indeed.